So Iím N.L., psychology student, I live with my mom (who is awesome), have a great bunch of friends and a cat (yay). Iím 18, and really, the only other thing thatís important for you to know is that I love writing. Which is why Iím here.

Iím a published poet, but I think itís safe to say I much prefer writing novels and consider myself primarily a novelist. Over the past seven years, Iíve been writing novels off and on. I wrote my first novella at eleven, my first novel at thirteen. After that, I worked on several novel ideas that were all doomed to fail, each for different reasons, before finally settling on my current novel. You know how you go on a few bad dates, get into a few bad relationships, and then all of a sudden a few years down the line youíre in a good relationship, and soon enough youíre married quietly in a house in the suburbs with a green lawn and two dogs? Yeah. Itís kind of like that.

It happened exactly like this. After I gave up work on the last of my failed novels because it was a murder mystery and I had no ending, I guess I got a little depressed and went through writerís block for about five months. I was also working in a small bookstore at this time (I now work in a big one). One night while I was working, about a year and three months ago, this haggard-looking woman came up to me with her husband and asked, in the most brutish tone, ďDo you have any books on borderline personality disorder?Ē And I just looked at her for a few seconds, because at this time, I had no idea what that was and frantically asked myself if she was speaking Martian. Then I pulled it together and looked it up on the computer. Of course, being the mother of all tiny stores, we didnít have anything, so I had to send her to the large bookstore across the street where I now work. Now may be a good time to mention Iíve always had a huge interest in abnormal psychology. So when I got home, I looked up this ďborderline personality disorderĒ on Wikipedia. I read about it. And the rest is history.

My novel is a fat, double-spaced psychological drama kept in various duo-tangs and with the topic of my protagonist, who is diagnosed with BPD. The book covers fifteen years of his life. Its size is like nothing youíve ever seen. Iím ashamed of how obese it is. And Iím only a third of the way done! God. Hopefully editing will help it lose a little weight. And by a little I mean like... an inch.

You may think Iím exaggerating. Iím not. Seriously. I can show you a picture of the brick stacked up next to my leg.

My novel is my life. I didnít want it to end up like its predecessors, so I spent literally a month planning the whole thing in advance. As a result, I now have a 200-page binder of information on it (I do have a social life. I promise. :P). This is the first novel Iíve planned even somewhat extensively (read: at all), and Iím so glad I did. Iíve been working on it a little over a year and a month now.

As well as my novel being my life, or probably even more so, my character is my baby. I created my character about five months before I started working on this story idea, because he was supposed to be in two other stories before it, which never got off the ground. Who knew that giving him a severe mental illness would end up being the perfect fit, and would make him into a person that seems as real to me as the people I see every day? I love him dearly, even though at this moment heís a whiny, bitter (almost) thirteen-year-old emo person who hates everyone, self-injures, bribes his father for money, happens to be an arrogant academic genius, and who will shortly become a bisexual nymphomaniac who constantly agonizes over the fact that his unrequited love interest does not love him. Oh, and of course, the world revolves around him. And donít you ever forget it. *rolls eyes* But I say all this with all the love in the world. :P

Iím ashamed of how long this introduction has become.

But yeah, thatís basically me in a nutshell. Itís all you really need to know to start getting to know me. I look forward to talking with all of you!

See you on the forums!

alleycat

07-12-2009, 07:05 PM

Welcome.

N.L. LeBlanc

07-12-2009, 07:10 PM

Thanks! c:

Ugawa

07-12-2009, 07:22 PM

Welcome to AW

XX

CACTUSWENDY

07-12-2009, 07:24 PM

Welcome to AW. Hope you enjoy your stay with us.

How do you like your popcorn?

BigWords

07-12-2009, 08:32 PM

Welcome to the Cooler.

Ruth2

07-12-2009, 08:39 PM

Welcome to the party!

donroc

07-12-2009, 08:40 PM

Welcome and enjoy.

Pardes

07-12-2009, 09:09 PM

Hello to you from Delaware.

Aileen Harkwood

07-12-2009, 09:09 PM

Welcome, N.L.! No need to apologize for the length of your intro. You're a writer, right? :)

N.L. LeBlanc

07-12-2009, 10:10 PM

Thanks to everyone for the welcomes! And Aileen, haha, I suppose that is very true! :P

Nickie

07-12-2009, 10:42 PM

Hello to you, and welcome to AW.

Nickie

ginnyweasley777

07-12-2009, 10:53 PM

Hi,
I've only just joined myself.

regdog

07-13-2009, 01:25 AM

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l117/regdog/5-2.gif

cooeedownunder

07-13-2009, 02:32 AM

Welcome :hi:

storylady

07-13-2009, 04:00 AM

Welcome, I'd love to pick your brain sometime :)!

N.L. LeBlanc

07-13-2009, 04:18 AM

Thanks guys! c: I'm glad to have finally found what looks like a good writing forum. Also, storylady, I love the little moving Tinkerbell on your sig! :P Yes, I am way too easily amused. But I admit it, so that's okay.

Madisonwrites

07-13-2009, 08:39 AM

:hi:

Aristocrazy

07-13-2009, 08:48 AM

fascinating. welcome, jealous of your work ethic~!

Did a bit of research and have to say I'll be borrowing the BPD for a minor char now :p

N.L. LeBlanc

07-13-2009, 06:50 PM

Aw, shucks. c:

And yay, that's awesome! I'm glad I inspired another author to insert BPD in their story. :P It can be difficult to pull off, certainly, but it does add some extra spiff to the story (to put it lightly). I'm curious to see what you're going to do with it, now! Is yours a novel too?

Aristocrazy

07-14-2009, 09:55 AM

Graphic Novel actually. The world is reasonably built and I'm just focusing on learning to draw before I plunge into writing.

Basically the character was a relationship dependent girl with unstable self-worth and a tendency to view things that dealt with her in black and white. She's set as a minor character who changes her love interest between two major characters each arc (of which there are five) until finally getting a considerable role in the fifth arc.

So definitely she had a few undertones of BPD in her but I think by amping up the symptoms into serious BPD I should hopefully be left with a much more powerful and poignant character.

Aristocrazy: Aw, yay, a graphic novel! <3 I have a little bit of a soft spot for graphic novels, being the only one who cares for and maintains their section at work. Hopefully someday soon I'll be sorting yours into alphabetical order with all the others, huh? :D What type is it? Is it a regular GN, like Marvel, or is it more of a manga-style one?

Also, your character sounds like she pretty much always had a mild-to-moderate BP, haha! How awesome is that? Same thing happened to my protagonist. When I was reading about it and thought of the story idea, I thought it sort of sounded like him from the get-go. It certainly fit incredibly well with the personality he already had, anyway.

I see you're staying away from (I think #5, I don't have the list handy) "suicidal thoughts and self-harming behavior". That's probably a good idea. Especially if she's minor, it would probably be a colossal waste of your time to have her whine about "Oh God, life is UNBEARABLE" all the time like my character (and half of his therapy group). Also, as an ending note, good luck with "severe dissociative symptoms". Creepiest thing ever. I've written what, like three episodes of dissociation? You just never get used to it. It's pretty darn hard to write actually.

Jos

07-19-2009, 06:17 PM

Welcome from another newbie!

It's awesome that you work in a bookstore, I'm jealous. I LOVE the smell of new books! Also, re. graphic novels - I'm SO addicted to Buffy Season 8. I'm gonna dig in to Firefly next, I think...it's high time, `cause my DVDs are wearing out. LOL.

N.L. LeBlanc

07-19-2009, 06:34 PM

Yeah, a lot of the GNs I work with seem extremely interesting. What I enjoy about graphic novels (especially literary ones and manga) is that they often deal with controversial stuff that books usually don't, which makes them intriguing. They're also insanely nice to look at. It's just too bad they mostly always cost an arm and a leg to buy! I used to read quite a bit of manga when I was younger, actually, but now I pretty much exclusively read reference books (because the ongoing psychology, etc. research for my novel is not going to do itself) and a bit of fiction.

Thanks for the welcome! And yeah, I definitely lucked out with the bookstore. It's pretty much the best job ever for me. Or at least it will be until I get a significant psychiatric education.

melaniehoo

07-19-2009, 07:10 PM

Welcome to AW & good luck!

N.L. LeBlanc

07-19-2009, 07:16 PM

:D Thanks so much!

Aristocrazy

07-20-2009, 07:40 AM

Thanks again to everyone for the welcomes! :D

Aristocrazy: Aw, yay, a graphic novel! <3 I have a little bit of a soft spot for graphic novels, being the only one who cares for and maintains their section at work. Hopefully someday soon I'll be sorting yours into alphabetical order with all the others, huh? :D What type is it? Is it a regular GN, like Marvel, or is it more of a manga-style one?

My background is in manga with a couple outstanding comics like 'the walking dead' thrown into the mix so that's definitely where my main influence comes from... that being said I have some big problems and reservations with traditional manga like the portrayal of women and such so I'm working hard to move in my own direction and find my own style somewhere in between. My character's heads at this time are basically circles though so I'm definitely not abandoning my roots haha.

Also, your character sounds like she pretty much always had a mild-to-moderate BP, haha! How awesome is that? Same thing happened to my protagonist. When I was reading about it and thought of the story idea, I thought it sort of sounded like him from the get-go. It certainly fit incredibly well with the personality he already had, anyway.

I just got tired of doing backstories for countless minor characters :p I just wanna learn to draw then get writing! Ive been in preperation stages for years now afterall :q. Idk I could possibly see her as a happy kid for the first 5 years or something... it'll write itself when I get there haha.

I see you're staying away from (I think #5, I don't have the list handy) "suicidal thoughts and self-harming behavior". That's probably a good idea. Especially if she's minor, it would probably be a colossal waste of your time to have her whine about "Oh God, life is UNBEARABLE" all the time like my character (and half of his therapy group). Also, as an ending note, good luck with "severe dissociative symptoms". Creepiest thing ever. I've written what, like three episodes of dissociation? You just never get used to it. It's pretty darn hard to write actually.

Yes, those freak me out and it sounds like I'll have to have an episode towards the end of each arc... so hopefully your colosses will be out before I finish arc 1 to help me out :/

SteveCordero

07-20-2009, 06:28 PM

Welcome!!!

N.L. LeBlanc

07-20-2009, 11:33 PM

Thanks, Steve! :D

And Aristocrazy, seriously, if you need any help with them just let me know. They're a little out there, especially if you've never experienced it yourself, but I think I've done enough research to make them sound at least half-decent. :P I'd certainly be glad to help you achieve the same.